Chapter 12 Clearing My Name

Chapter 12: Clearing His Name

Shi Ciye threw a huge fit at home, but Shi Yu, the person at the center of it all, was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's that ungrateful brat?"

The butler said cautiously, "The young master hasn't left his room since last night."

Shi Ciye: "Go get the keys. I want to see what that little brat is up to in his room!!"

When Shi Yu's door was forcefully pushed open, everyone saw only wood carvings scattered all over the floor.

And Shi Yu was nowhere to be seen.

His brother Shi Yù rushed over with his phone: "Dad, look, Xiao Yu is live-streaming."

In the livestream, Shi Yu was at a five-star hotel. He started the stream without saying a word, calmly carving wood.

A flood of netizens poured in, expecting to see Shi Yu play the victim and plead innocence. Instead, they watched him carve wood for nearly ten minutes.

—

"????"

"Is he trying to become a craftsman?"

"Looks like he's got nothing to say."

"Wait, so you tricked us into watching you do handicrafts??"

—

Shi Yu looked up, catching the comments, and smiled slightly: "Hold on, the viewership isn't high enough yet. When more people show up, you'll see what you came for."

After another five minutes, Shi Yu answered a call and adjusted the camera: "Okay, I'm about to clear my name now."

The comments started flooding with "Murderer!"

Shi Yu was amused.

The originally uniform comments started to shift.

"This murderer is actually proud."

"The rich have no fear."

Shi Yu explained: "You misunderstand. I'm laughing because you guys are just like NPCs in those novels.

Have you read those novels where netizens, just because someone says a few words, start frantically attacking the main character online? Then when the truth comes out, they all come flocking to say, 'I knew he was innocent.'"

The viewers, after hearing this and putting two and two together, fell silent.

Then someone broke the silence:

"So you're saying you're innocent?"

Shi Yu: "Uh, the official announcement has been out for two minutes. You haven't read it yet? I figured since you spread rumors so fast, your internet must be fast too."

In the comments—

"Ahhh, everyone go check, the official announcement is really out!"

["Wuwuwu, I've never felt so much like an NPC before."]

The comment section went quiet for a moment, as viewers switched to read the official announcement.

After reading it, netizens were dumbfounded.

The announcement not only clarified that Liu Zhixin was pushed off the building by his mistress, landing right in front of Shi Yu, who was taken as a witness, but also urged netizens not to believe or spread rumors.

"So the young master isn't just innocent, he's also unlucky."

"Oh my god, if I were walking down the street and someone fell from the sky, I'd go crazy!!"

Seeing the shift in the comments, Shi Yu smiled: "Yeah, really unlucky. But how come nobody's apologizing to me? That's not how it goes in the novels. You wronged me, shouldn't you apologize?"

Comments—

"······"

Then the screen flooded with "Sorry", mixed with comments like "I knew he was innocent."

"He's so rich and he's still willing to go incognito into his own company, how could he be a bad person?"

"God damn it, I blasted that gossip account and for the first time in my life I followed a bandwagon, and I end up so humiliated!!"

This was exactly the NPC behavior Shi Yu had described from those entertainment industry novels.

"What about the bullying accusation?"

Facing more questions, Shi Yu said in confusion: "I'm puzzled by this too. You managed to dig up that I went to A University, but couldn't be bothered to check the official website?

That classmate stole money from a disabled person. As a righteous and kind-hearted college student, I gathered some people to get the money back.

After investigating, the school punished the thief. The disciplinary notice is still on the website. My intentions were good, but my methods were not ideal, so I got suspended."

With that explanation, Shi Yu painted himself as a hot-headed but good guy. And honestly, the whole 'real personality' thing worked out great for him.

Since the school's official notice about the incident existed, and it happened before Shi Yu was involved in the murder case, there was no collusion between the school and the Shi family to polish his reputation.

Realizing they'd been played, netizens were furious.

"Gossip accounts nowadays will spread any crap, even framing someone as a murderer."

"Don't you think that gossip account is stupid? Spreading such rumors, just asking to get slapped down by the official statement?"

Shi Yu replied to that comment: "Stupid? Not really. Now the whole internet knows I'm crazy. Isn't that called high-level business warfare using the simplest methods?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm starting to get conspiratorial. Waiting for the big drama."

"Looks like the young master knows who set him up."

Shi Yu didn't beat around the bush: "Yeah, and I'm not waiting around. I can tell you right now. It was my dear big brother, Shi Yan. To prevent me from competing for the vice president position, he deliberately started rumors about me."

"Just think about it, even if this gets cleared up, the fact that I have a mental illness is out there now. Would a company this big let a crazy person rise to the top?"

"Did I just hear that right? An inside secret?"

"Isn't this the legendary fight for the top spot? So exciting!!"

"Young Master really treats us like his own people."

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